Homophobia: Common Ground for George Bush and the President of Iran
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has finally found something he and President George Bush agree on. Both are anti-gay activists who believe homosexuals should be marginalized, outcast and punished. Their religious beliefs give them an excuse for their homophobia.
Speaking at Columbia University Monday, Ahmadinejad declared that there are no homosexuals in Iran. Perhaps this is because queer Iranians are subject to imprisonment, torture and execution. Or perhaps Ahmadinejad has simply extended his denial of the Holocaust to include another group Hitler included in his death camps: homosexuals.
The Human Rights Campaign chose the right word for their official statement on Ahmadinejad’s assertion: absurd. “Today’s assertions by President Ahmadinejad that there are no homosexuals in Iran would be simply absurd were it not for the fact that international human rights watchers have long documented some of the most horrific acts of persecution and violence committed against gay people in Iran. These acts of terror have included incarcerations, beatings, and brutal executions. Ahmadinejad’s denial that there are gay people in Iran shows the extent to which he devalues the lives of the many citizens his government has and continues to violate,” HRC President Joe Solmonese said in the statement.
Paula Ettelbrick, Executive Director at The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) said the Iranian President was disingenuous in his remarks about the human rights situation in Iran. “The Iranian President’s stark denial of our reality reflects his government’s ongoing refusal to recognize the basic human rights of LGBT people. IGLHRC and other human rights organizations have documented widespread and systemic violations of the rights of members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community in Iran,” she said in an IGLHRC statement.
Interestingly, the Iranian president may have actually helped the cause of the citizens he denies, and that of all queer Muslims of both Persian and Arab descent, by raising the visibility of the brutal and oppressive treatment that LGBT people endure at the hands of his government and others–including our own. Coverage of Ahmadinejad’s comments was broad and deep. Even Al Jazeera included it in their coverage of the Columbia University forum. Gay rights organizations, bloggers and the mass media have seized on the opportunity analyze the absurdity of his assertion, putting gay rights abuses outside the U.S. on the radar. The conversation that has resulted creates a logic problem for anti-gay Americans, who now find themselves agreeing with the Ahmadinejad’s extreme views.
Tomorrow, the U.S. Senate will again consider the Matthew Shepard Hate Crime legislation. In the wake of Ahmadinejad’s comments, perhaps it will be harder for Republicans to vote against it. To do so puts them on Iran’s side. And as President Bush has told us, either you’re with us, or you’re with the terrorists. Sen. Ted Kennedy brought the issue back to the floor yesterday with a statement linking hate crimes to terrorism:
“Hate crimes are a form of domestic terrorism. They send the poisonous message that some Americans deserve to be victimized solely because of who they are.
“The time has come to stand up for the victims of these senseless acts of violence – victims like Matthew Shepard, for whom this bill is named, and who died a horrible death in 1998 at the hands of two men who singled him out because of his sexual orientation. Nine years after Matthew’s death – nine years – we still haven’t gotten it done. How long are we going to wait?”
President Bush has already come out on Ahmadinejad’s side on this issue, threatening to veto the legislation.
Check out our resource page for information, organizations and resources for queer Arabs, Muslims and Persians.
Sphere: Related Content
September 27th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
According to the President of Iran, there are no homosexuals in his country. Want to know why this may be the case?
According to British Media Outlet Guardian Unlimited, while Iran punishes homosexuality by death under Islamic Law called Sharia it at the same time provides up to $5,000 for sex reassignment surgery. HUH??? Apparently the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who was the spiritual leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution issued a religious proclamation called a fatwa the declared transexuality a medical condition that is correctable by surgery. As such, many homosexuals in Iran undergo these State-financed surgeries in order to avoid being arrested and ultimately hanged.
Human Rights watch groups estimate that some 4,000 homosexuals have been executed by Iran’s fundamentalist government since the 1979 revolution. First, Pres. “Imanutjob” denies the Holocaust and now he denies the very existence of a complete subset of every society on the planet. Deniability seems to be very common with his government. Let’s hope that another issue his government systematically denies, the pursuit of nuclear weapons, turns out to actually be a real denial. But you never know with these guys. When someone denies things such as a group that makes up as much as 10% of your population and one of the most documented events in human history it makes you wonder why they believe they are actually fooling anyone.